Rahall Confirmed as Top Dem, Mica Names New GOP Members of T & I

Update: We just learned that Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) has been confirmed as the new Ranking Member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure just got a bunch of new members.

Incoming Chair John Mica (R-FL) announced the Republican picks today. “The Committee and its new Republican Members will be at the forefront of cutting government waste and red tape and finding cost effective solutions for getting our country moving in the right direction,” said Mica.

The new Committee Republicans, in alphabetical order, are:

Chip Cravaack, who ousted Jim Oberstar in Minnesota and is now taking a seat on the T & I Committee, driving his "War Wagon". Image from Cravaack's ##http://www.facebook.com/cravaackforcongress?ref=search##Facebook## page

If Chip Cravaack’s name looks familiar, it’s because he’s the guy who defeated Jim Oberstar in the November election. Now coming onto the Transportation Committee, Cravaack says he wants to eliminate the deficit by limiting spending; one pot of funding that he calls unnecessary is for bike trails.

Lou Barletta’s father owned a road construction company, and he himself co-founded his own construction firm, Interstate Road Marking Corp., before becoming mayor of Hazelton, PA.

Mica says he plans to announce subcommittee assignments in January.

Democrats started out the last session with 45 members on the T & I Committee, compared to 30 seats for the Republicans. These 20 new Republican members will make for a healthy Republican majority on the committee.

Meanwhile, the Democrats just confirmed Rep. Nick Rahall as the top Democrat on the committee. A statement from his office says, “Rahall has worked diligently over the past three decades to provide Federal support to build better highways, modern bridges, water and sewer systems, flood control projects, broadband infrastructure, and to keep airports up and running throughout southern West Virginia.”

No other Democratic committee members were named, as far as we know. We don’t know yet if they’ll have to drop members from the committee or if the committee lost enough Democrats through election losses.

People vote for congress members based on local issues, not their ability to join a committee or not. I don’t understand why someone elected to congress to talk about water issues in rural florida (for example) gets to decide national policies for roads or trains.

This is why congress should have gotten as much done as they could when they had a chance. Why they wasted all that time worrying about single bills and issues is beyond me, especially when they have staff able to pay attention.

Marcia Kramer’s Eyebrow

Can’t we somehow get Marty Markowitz on the Transpo Committee? He’ll know what to do!

Brandi

This new bunch is not looking to go for transit or livable communities. Expect money for TIGER, HSR, and livable streets to be cut. Also expect a lot of promoting of private/public partnerships. Overall though I think this is going to be mean two years of nothing but an emphasis on highway expansion. I really wish improving our communities and transportation systems wasn’t a partisan issue but it has become very much so one.

Outtheloop

And it’s not like a Democrat from southern WV is likely to be much better on livable street issues. His quote talks about highways and bridges, but nothing about transit, pedestrians, etc. On the other hand, Congress seems to have no ability to accomplish anything meaningful these days, so maybe that will limit the damage.

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